People in Bangladesh are bracing for a cyclone that will likely make landfall in the next few days.

Cyclone Nargis is about 1,000 kilometers from the southeastern port city of Chittagong. Meteorologists are warning the storm could become a powerful Category Four cyclone.

Authorities are telling residents to stay alert and be prepared to evacuate.

There is also concern the storm has the potential to damage a bumper rice crop, although the country's Agriculture Ministry spokesman, Abdulla Al-Shahin, is denying reports officials have asked farmers to rush harvesting the rice.

Farmers in Bangladesh have been in the fields harvesting the crop. Completing the harvest could take another two weeks.

The country is still recovering from Cyclone Sidr, which hit last November, killing an estimated 3,500 people and leaving another two million homeless. The cyclone also destroyed roughly two million tons of rice.